Mountains of Books 2016. (Book Fair)

Mountains of Books 2016. 

Saturday 29th of October 2016  To  Sunday 30th of October 2016
Time: 10am - 4pm

Ferny Creek Recreational Reserve Hall (Melways map 75 D1)

Cnr Clarkmont Rd and Hilton Road  Ferny Creek  3786

Books that i was selling last year... not this year.

Yep, I'm selling at Mountains of Books once again in the wonderful surrounds of the beautiful Ferny Creek Recreational Reserve Hall. It's a great weekend for any book lover wanting to peruse a plethora of booksellers choice items, all in the one location... and what a location. Even if you're not a book buyer, it's worth having a look at this wonderful locale and if you are a book buyer, then it's even more of a reason to come along. (Click here if you want to have a look.)

More books that i wont be bringing along this year.

I'm going to be bringing along a good mix of my usual “books of interest” of the usual Huc & Gabet high standard, as will the other wonderful booksellers selling here this year (...they were wonderful last year, so i'm assuming they will be wonderful this year).  

I hope to see you there.

Robin 

Nolan on Nolan: Sidney Nolan in His Own Words by Sidney Nolan, edited by Nancy Underhill.

Nolan on Nolan: Sidney Nolan in His Own Words by Sidney Nolan, edited by Nancy Underhill.  Hardcover book published by Viking 2007, 472 pages with some colour and black and white photographs and some colour illustrations.

Sidney Nolan (1917—1992), myth maker and creator of the iconic Ned Kelly images, is one of the most significant artists Australia has produced. In this distinctive book, the artist becomes his own subject. Extracts from his notebooks, diaries, letters, interviews and poetry take us on the intellectual and emotional journeys which carried him around the world and which kept his art, and often his life, outside the comfort zone. The material from the notebooks, published here for the first time, offers unique insight into Nolan’s creative process, while the collection as a whole reveals a complex personality and an artist who resists stylistic categorisation. It expands and recasts perceptions of his views on art making, friendships, travel, music and literature, throwing new light on his work. Introduced and annotated by art historian Nancy Underhill, Nolan on Nolan represents the first compilation of the painter’s views, one which takes the reader behind Nolan’s own carefully constructed mask.

A few years back I wrote about Sidney Nolan and the epiphany I had had regarding his work (click here).  Nothing much has changed since then, with my humble opinions remaining firmly on the “now there was a genius” end of the art appreciation spectrum. This book doesn't have much art in it, but it does have Sidneys words and for anyone vaguely interested in Mr Nolan, it is an important insight into the work of a true Australian Master.

I was recently talking about Sidney Nolan with some fellow art appreciators who were not convinced by my enthusiasm. Interestingly, as soon as I mentioned his Antarctic landscapes their interest became a little more sparked and as with most people, they were unaware of this less known aspect of his work. This makes me wonder what do they and others know about the depth of Sidneys catalogue... and it's not as if i'm an expert or anything like that. Indeed, I would rate myself as an amateur ethusiast who has an amazement at having had a epiphany about someones art that up to that point in time, I had had no interest in at all.

… and this is why, books by or about Sidney Nolan are available through Huc & Gabet.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Hardcover book published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1961, 319 pages.

Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, written in English and published in 1955 in Paris, in 1958 in New York City, and in 1959 in London. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor called Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores.

Yep, she was 12 in the book. For the film, they raised the age of Lolita a few years but not as much as would make it acceptable that a middle-aged literature professor was lusting etc, after such a young girl. Despite this dodgy premise for a story, Lolita in both formats was and still is a success. It is considered one of the great books of the 20^th century*, and it is also considered one of the books I really need to read... and yes I do have my own copy waiting in the pile.

I watched the film for the first time a few years ago and like most people, I was quite startled, amazed and gobsmacked. That doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate the film and the excellent job that Stanley did, or the excellent performances by all concerned especially Shelley Winters.

It does mean that I was a little taken aback by the subject matter and kept thinking all the way through that it was all a little bit dodgy. A great story but still dodgy. My copy of the book has been in the pile for a number of years now and a bit like a fine wine cellar, i'm waiting for the right moment to read it. Will there ever be enough time?

*Lolita is included on TIME magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005. It is also fourth on the Modern Library's 1998 list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century, and holds a place in theBokklubben World Library, a 2002 collection of the most celebrated books in history.